The present disclosure relates generally to the management of telecommunication services in telecommunications networks, and in particular to common user authentication and subscription management on disparate telecommunication networks for various telecommunication services.
A telecommunications network can be of several types, including mobile telecommunications networks and fixed telecommunications networks. Mobile telecommunication networks can include telecommunications networks hosted on networks of cellular stations and mobile telephones, pagers, radio-devices, and other infrastructure and portable devices which allow a user to communicate wirelessly. Mobile telecommunications networks also include those networks hosted on satellites and portable ground stations, vehicle-mounted communications gear, and handheld devices. Other mobile telecommunications networks are also available. Fixed telecommunications networks can include telecommunications networks hosted on public switched telephone networks (PSTN), land lines, and wired infrastructure within businesses and homes. Fixed telecommunications networks can also include those hosted over the Internet or local internets connecting computers, network appliances, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephones, and other devices. Telecommunication networks can also include a hybrid of fixed and mobile networks, such as wired networks which reconfigure so that a user can move between wired nodes and connect and reconnect by wire or wirelessly to the network as if the user were on one network. Telecommunications networks are typically provided by network providers.
Telecommunications services, sometimes referred to as simply “services,” can include services such as voice mail, call conferencing, presence detection, and call hunting. Presence detection and call hunting services include the process of determining a phone number (or IP address) which a target user is using or has recently used in order to forward calls to that number. Services are typically provided by service providers.
An Operations Support System (OSS) is a computer system which supports processing in a telecommunications network, such as maintaining network inventory, provisioning services, configuring network components, and managing faults. A Business Support System (BSS) is a computer system which may interface with customers, take orders, process bills, and collect payments. An OSS and a BSS can run on the same computer or computers and may be integrated with each other. An OSS and BSS can have separate or shared database repositories.
A BSS repository can store customer information from a service provider point of view, such as customer address information, customer billing information, products purchased by the customer, and campaigns to which a customer has responded. A BSS repository also can include subscription information for a customer, such as information for any voice, wireless, or roaming plan, as well as number of minutes purchased per month, etc. Such information is treated as product information from a BSS point of view, and the BSS repository also will include information as to whether a particular customer is subscribing to that product. If, for example, a customer subscribing to a new subscription is entitled to a new phone, that information typically will be maintained in the BSS repository. A BSS repository also typically is used to maintain trouble tickets, such as information regarding problems with service or failure to receive a form, as well as maintaining security credentials.
An OSS repository, on the other hand, is used for monitoring and administration of the system or other OSS operations such as charging/rating and activation provisioning. An OSS repository can also contain subscriber information such as information for the current and active bill for a customer, an inventory of assets associated with a customer, types of products or services provided to a customer, etc. A repository at the network level might include current network information for a customer, such as whether the customer is logged onto the network, a location of the customer on the network, whether a customer device is active, etc.
A service resource such as a Service Delivery Platform (SDP) repository stores subscription information for a customer that is useful in running software services that are exposed to the customer, such as whether a particular customer has requested to receive news updates, and if so, also stores preference information such as which types of news the customer wishes to receive, e.g., international news or news related to a specific topic, as well as a channel in which to receive the news (e.g., Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)) and format information for the news (e.g., background color and font size). The SDP repository also can include information such as an identity for each customer, credentials, customer availability, etc.
In the lexicon of telecommunications, “convergence” typically means that a service provider offers different networks (e.g., fixed, mobile, wireless, broadband) and offers the same services on the different networks. Also, the different networks may be provided by partnering network providers.
It is often understood that convergence uses IP (Internet Protocol) Multimedia System (IMS). IMS offers a common set of network, transport, and session layers independent of the bearer of services.
IMS is sometimes considered the architecture for Next Generation Networks (NGN). IMS is built on IP standards such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Diameter. In the network layer, a core SIP network handles routing and location lookup. In the application layer, SIP application servers provide services.
IMS generally standardizes the network layer infrastructure and application layer on vanilla Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)-standardized SIP. The standardization of the network layer infrastructure and application layer uses the SIP/IP core and SIP session layer, respectively.
The telecommunications industry is specifying and promoting new networks (such as NGNs or Next Generation Networks) that aim to provide support for the latest technologies (e.g., VoIP, multimedia streaming and messaging, and web 2.0) and an Internet-like user experience with viable business models for the operators. These networks can be used to provide new, attractive, and revenue generating multimedia ad real time services, for example. IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) is the most widely known example of such a new network technology. With its layered architecture, IMS provides the ability to deploy new exciting services (e.g., VoIP, Multimedia streaming and messaging and web 2.0), as well as convergence (e.g. Voice Call Continuity (VCC)), making these services available through multiple access networks, such as FMC (Fix Mobile Convergence) where the services are available through mobile and wired networks. Of course, the Internet is the other mainstream of NGN that enables web 2.0 services in general.
An example of a new and exciting service is triple play (voice+data+video) and quadruple play (e.g., adding IPTV, PSTN or mobile) combined with shared business support systems from a single operator or a service provider to a consumer. Demand for such converged services, combined with the convergence between wireless and fixed networks (e.g., broadband), further emphasizes the need to move away from silo-based architectures and instead rely on a horizontal, standards-based platform that enables convergence.
In telecommunications, service providers not only deal with the networks assets, platforms, and services, but must also support business processes to provide services to their customers and interact with their partners and suppliers, as well as operational processes to monitor and administer these assets. Tools, infrastructure, data repositories, and applications for performing these tasks are referred to as service provider business support systems (BSS) and operational support systems (OSS). BSS typically includes resources that support the business aspects (e.g. CRM, PRM, ERP, Analytics, financial, revenue management) while OSS supports the execution of the business with aspects like monitoring, management, and administration; resolution of trouble; billing and/or charging; provisioning; activation; fulfillment; etc.) In any service provider, services and runtime interact with OSS and BBS. Today, OSS and BSS are often complex archaic systems designed for legacy networks where services, hardware, and network resources consist mainly of static components.
IMS has been of interest to service providers because IMS promises interoperability out of the box with a prescribed deployment architecture and a ‘wall garden’ that allows SP viable business models. However, IMS is just one Next Generation Network option of many, including vanilla IETF SIP (Internet/intranet) to pre-IMS. IMS has been referred to as rigid, complex, and costly, and it has not yet been widely deployed. IMS will probably evolve, and less stringent evolutionary systems will probably be available that support IMS-like services, such as push-to-talk over cellular without full IMS deployment. However, there is a need for systems and processes that can attain convergence but which do not require re-hosting, re-architecting, or recapitalizing as IMS is perceived to require.